Box and shipping container



Sept. 1, 1936.

F. A. HOFMANN 2,052,977

BOX AND SHIPPING CONTAINER 7 Filed Aug. 7, 1934 W%$ INVENTOR ATTORNEYS Patented Sept. 1, 1936 PATENT OFFICE BOX AND SHIPPING CONTAINER Frederick A. Hofmann, Palisades Park, N. J., assignor of one-half to Raymond Beck, New

York, N. Y.

Application August 7, 1934, Serial No. 738,777

5 Claims.

My invention relates to boxes and/or shipping containers made of paper, fibre board, strawboard, corrugated board, fabric, composition board or other material. Such boxes and/or shipping containers are commonly formed from sheet material and are held in shape by means of glue, paste, cement or other adhesive, or by stapling or stitching with metal wire, bands, or other material.

An object of the present invention is to *so construct a box or container that it will provide an improved and simple means for opening same, so as to permit quick and more convenient access to the contents of the box, and to lessen the liability of injury to the person opening the box and of damage to the contents thereof.

The above, and various other objects and advantages of this invention, will be in part. described, and in part understood, from the following detailed description of the present preferred embodiment:

Referring now to the drawing, in which I have shown selected embodiments of the invention, Fig. 1 is a perspective view of a container in the form of a box as now generally used;

Fig. 2 is a view similar to Fig. 1 but showing the box as having one form of my invention applied thereto;

Fig. 3 is a view showing a sheet of material from which may be made the box of Fig. 2;

Fig. 4 is a perspective view of the box as it appears when closed and when having my invention applied thereto;

Fig. 5 is a view of one of the flaps appearing in Figs. 2 and 3 and showing another embodiment of the invention applied thereto.

For the sake of illustration, the invention is shown as applied to a container in the form of a box of a well-known form, which may comprise outside closure flaps A, inside closure flaps B, side walls C, and a front wall D. A box of this form may be conveniently made from one piece of sheet material indicated in Fig. 3, and folded along the dotted lines indicated in that figure.

Usually, the outside closure flaps A are folded over into engagement with the inside closure flaps B, and the two portions of the box formed by these flaps are secured together by adhesive. Then when it is desired to open the box, the outside closure flaps, or at least one of them, is pulled away from the inside closure flap. Usually, an outside flap is pried loose by working the fingers under an edge or a corner and pulling it away from the rest of the box. This operation is not always an easy one to perform, be-

hesive, but still an adhesive which is strong enough to hold the strip temporarily in place while the container is being assembled. Then the flaps A are folded into position to close the container, as indicated in Fig. 4, after having the usual strong adhesive applied to the under side of the. flaps A. Then it will be seen that this strong adhesive will secure the flaps A, not only to the flaps B, but also to the upper surface of the strip E. This strip may be placed in any desired position, although here it is shown as so located as to contact with an area F closely adjacent one edge of one flap. This position may be varied as found desirable.

The result of the above operation will be that one flap A will have its under surface secured to one of the flaps B by a strong adhesive except at the strip E, and there the two flaps will be secured together by a relatively weak adhesive underneath the strip E. In other words, the strip E forms a. relatively small area between the contacting surfaces of the two flaps, and over which area the effect of the strong adhesive is weakened or partially nullified.

In Figs. 2, 3, and 4, I have shown the strip E as extending over onto the wall C of the container and as being folded onto this wall and secured thereto by the same character of adhesive as secures it to the flap B. The strip may be conveniently secured to the blank as shown in Fig. 3, before the blank is folded, if that is desired.

Now, when it is desired to open the container which is thus thoroughly sealed, all that is necessary to do is to loosen the end of the strip E which is secured to the wall C by the relatively weak adhesive. Because of the use of the relatively weak adhesive, this end of the strip may be easily pulled away from the wall seal, and F then a continued pull will cause the strip E to come away from the flap B, and by so doing to loosen the flap A, it being remembered that the strip E is secured to the flap A by the relatively strong adhesive. The fingers of the hand may be inserted beneath the edge of the flap A, where it has thus been loosened from the flap B, since a convenient handhold has been thus provided.

The same result may be achieved by securing the strip E to the flap A by a relatively weak adhesive, when the relatively strong adhesive is for any reason applied to the flap B, as is sometimes done.

A similar result may be obtainedby providing the flap B, for example, with an area H, as indicated in Fig. 5, on which is deposited, in place of the tape E, an adhesive which will not harden, such as an elastic glue, cement, or other compound. thereby providing an area which will repel the adhesive on the flap A, or at least will Weaken the effect of that adhesive. This area H corresponds then to the relatively small area formed by the strip E in the other embodiments referred to above.

While I have shown the strip as disposed closely adjacent the edge of one-of the cover flaps A, nevertheless it will be understood that this location may be varied as found expedient. Similarly, other changes may be made in details of construction without departing from the scope of the invention as defined in the appended claims.

I claim:

1. A container formed of sheet material and comprising two portions, namely, an outer portion in the form of a flap andan inner portion normally engaged by said flap to close the container, a strip disposed between said portions and having one side thereof secured to one portion by arelatively weak adhesive, the other of said portions contacting with the other side of the strip and with the first-named portion and secured to both of them by a relatively strong adhesive.

2. A container formed of sheet material and comprising two portions, namely, an outer portion in the form of a flap and an inner portion normally engaged by said flap to close the container, a strip disposed between said portions and having one side thereof secured to one portion by a relatively weak adhesive, the other of said portions contacting with the other side of the strip and with the first-named portion and secured to both of them by a relatively strong adhesive, said strip having an end extending out from between said portions. I

3. A container formed of sheet material and comprising two portions, namely, an outer portion in the form of a flap and an inner portion normally-engaged by said flap to close the container, a strip disposed between said portions and having one side thereof secured to said inner portion by a relatively weak adhesive, said flap contacting with the other side of the strip and with said inner portion and secured to both of them by a relatively strong adhesive.

4. A container formed of sheet material and comprising two portions, namely, an outer portion in the form of a flap and an inner portion normally engaged by said flap to close the container, a strip disposed between said portions and having one side thereof secured to said flap by a relatively Weak adhesive, said inner portion contacting with the other side of the strip and with the flap and secured to both of them by a relatively strong adhesive.

5. A container formed of sheet material and comprising two portions, namely, an outer portion in the form of a flap and an inner portion normally engaged by said'fiap to close the container, said engagement of said portions taking place over a relatively large area and the portions being secured together over that area by an adhesive, and means forming a relatively small area extending inwardly on one of said portions from an edge of said flap across said large area, the efiect of said adhesive being materially weakened over said small area.

FREDERICK A. HOFMANN. 

